Reads

A mystery that takes place in the 1980's Boston club scene? Sign us up! We chat to Author Clea Simon about youth, nostalgia and forgiveness. Before Clea Simon became known as a world-class mystery writer, she was a music journalist in Boston. During the ‘80s she was...

While Lee's depictions of carpet-laying and hotel room tidying are, top notch, can his novel about an aspiring guitarist trapped in a dead end job learn to sing? In the 21st century, few artistic avenues seem as easy to break into as music. You’ve got a guitar, a...

You could fill a warehouse with mediocre books about Hendrix, but Gillian G. Gaar's new tome gets it right In just under four years, Jimi Hendrix changed the world of popular music forever. Four years. Today, it’s not unusual for bands to spend four years choosing...

In which our book reviewer declines his assignment, instead championing "what may be the best book on the New York punk scene since "Please Kill Me!" RE: MY LONG OVERDUE BOOK REVIEW OF HEY JOE! Dear Editor, I know I was supposed to review the book “Hey...

Noted prog-rock author Will Romano's meticulous argument for Yes hits the mark When it comes to discussions of influential classic rock albums known for their groundbreaking use of state-of-the-art studio wizardry and musical exploration, two titles typically come to...

A famous DJ's concert diary wings us to pivotal moments in rock and roll, but the typos kill our buzz. Carter Alan, a long-time Boston deejay, has chronicled nearly a half-century’s worth of notable concerts that he’s attended, from tiny little college shows near his...

The sex and drugs, and rock and roll swindle. The disappointing thing about “Lonely Boy” is that, Steve Jones – former Sex Pistol, thief, and alcoholic – is not articulate enough to pull off a 300-page narrative. But all the blame can’t be put at the feet of the...

The powerful memoir from ex-The Fall guitarist and ex-wife of Mark E. Smith tells tales worth telling. Let’s be candid: when I picked up “The Rise, The Fall and The Rise” I only wanted to read the good parts. The parts about Mark E. Smith and the Fall. What I knew of...

Richie Unterberger's Fleetwood Mac bio convinces even a non-fan to "see things in a different way" It says a lot about Fleetwood Mac, a band I don’t particularly care for, that by the time it’s most famous/beloved iteration appears in Richie Unterberger’s new...

The Runaways guitarist and heavy metal goddess comes clean on a dirty life. Lita Ford’s Living Like a Runaway is the antithesis of a Beach Boys song. There are no golden-haired honeys waxing up surfboards, catching waves, or having fun all summer long. Rather than...

In the small town of Woodstock we meet a fresh faced Dylan, Janis, and Jimi on their way to the top, but reviewer Joe Gallo cautions against judging this book by its cover. Small Town Talk by Barney Hoskyns Bo Diddley, guitarist, songwriter, and literary critic, once...

In their fiftieth year of existence, how does the latest entry into the Who book pantheon measure up? It should come as no surprise that The Who, a band with some eighteen different “best of” compilations, also has a plethora of biographies and group history books,...